About 8 h 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 18 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
In September 1535, Thomas Cromwell accompanies Henry VIII to Wolf Hall, where the king is drawn to Jane Seymour. Henry wants to end his marriage to Anne Boleyn, who has failed to bear him a son, and Cromwell must find a legal means of satisfying him without losing his own hard-won position. Anne’s family and the old aristocracy are dangerous opponents, while accusations of adultery offer opportunities to settle old debts.
Reader notes
The second novel in the Wolf Hall Trilogy stays close to Cromwell’s calculating thoughts, its present-tense narration keeping decisions uncertain even when the history is familiar. Conversations demand attention: a courteous exchange can carry a threat, and political maneuvering has deadly consequences.
How it reads
Writing style
Atmospheric · Dense · Experimental · Lyrical
Tone
Atmospheric · Cerebral · Dark · Tense
Structure
Linear
Driven by
Character · Ideas · Plot
Point of view
Third person, limited
Setting
Tudor England
Reading complexity
Writing
4 / 5
Ideas
4 / 5
Structure
3 / 5
Background knowledge
3 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Writing
How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas
How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure
How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity
Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
Ambition
Justice
Knowledge and truth
Morality
Power
Content notes
Violence
Strong
Sexual content
Strong
Swearing
Mild
Substance use
Mild
Abuse
Mild
Self-harm or suicide
None
Standing and awards
Highly regarded
Booker Prize, 2012
Costa/Whitbread Award, 2012
Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist, 2013
Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction shortlist, 2013
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction longlist, 2013
Yes, the dense, sometimes experimental prose and closely observed conversations demand attention. Courteous exchanges can conceal threats, while the narration stays close to Cromwell’s calculating thoughts.
Where does it fit in the series?
It is the second novel in the Wolf Hall Trilogy, following Cromwell as he tries to satisfy Henry VIII while protecting his hard-won position.
Is it fast-paced?
No, the pace is measured, with tension carried by conversations, concealed threats, and political maneuvering. Present-tense narration keeps decisions uncertain even when the history is familiar.
What strong content should I expect?
Strong violence and sexual content accompany a dark court setting where political maneuvering has deadly consequences. Accusations of adultery become opportunities to settle old debts.
How long is it?
432 pages in the Picador 2013 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Picador · 2013 · Paperback. ISBN 9781250024176.
How long does it take to read Bring Up the Bodies?
About 8 hours 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 432-page Picador edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel was a British writer whose career encompassed historical and contemporary novels, short stories, memoir, essays, and opinion writing. Her historical fiction is distinguished by the way it joins exacting research to intimate studies of political action. She treated research as part of a novel’s structure, testing sources and making careful choices where the record was incomplete or contradictory. In A Place of Greater Safety and the Thomas Cromwell trilogy, public upheaval emerges through temperament, private loyalties, class movement, religious conflict, and the practical machinery of power. By centering Cromwell as a capable but morally ambiguous administrator, Mantel made familiar Tudor history feel newly unsettled. Her contemporary fiction applies a similarly unsparing intelligence to ordinary life. Beyond Black brings banal routines into contact with the supernatural, using sardonic comedy and withheld sympathy to approach buried abuse. Across these different forms, Mantel repeatedly examined how people read institutions, debts, beliefs, and one another, often from viewpoints that complicate the accepted story.
